Working without Internet into today's day and age is one of the hardest things in the world to do. Although having this resource at your fingertips opens you up to a vast array of knowledge and you literally have the world at your fingertips, once it is taken away you feel very powerless. Currently, I am living in my Fraternity house. The common areas are disgusting to say the least, but I would think that collectively we could all agree that having Internet is an important thing to have, especially when a great deal of activities that are required for class use various instruments on the Internet. But as frat boys go, we just can't seem to get our act together and it has already been one whole week of school. The Internet will come eventually, but at the moment it is a real hassle to get the information you need and the convenience of having the Internet at home cannot be replicated.

I have had to spend the past three days literally camping out in one of the computer labs on campus, specifically the one in Angell Hall referred to as the Fish Bowl. I have gone here directly after class and do my homework and use the Internet for hours until I have to head home, long after the sun has set and waste away behind television to find any sort of solace for entertainment. While I use the Internet a great deal for College, I use it for personal things too, and not having it really changes my routine. Here is a list of some things that I haven't been able to readily do in the past couple days without the use of the Internet.

Retrieve School Information
The University of Michigan uses a system called CTools which is a portal that pretty much all classes and professors at this school use to convey information with their students. It holds my syllabi, reading materials, office hours, announcements, and even has chat rooms if I need instant results. Without the use of the Internet at home I've been unable to link in to this network when something occurs to me at midnight lets say. I may have forgotten a reading or assignment that I didn't get to while I was in the computer lab earlier, and not being able to access it makes me feel powerless. Knowing that I have that cushion of "forgetting" about things and doing them later is comforting and is part of my psyche due to the vastness of the Internet. Not having this ability to forget about things does make me far more on task, however, and I use my time when I have Internet access far better.



Retrieve Information
When I'm behind a computer these days, I have to constantly work on school. I don't have any time to attend to personal matters of do or look at things that I would typically look at because I enjoy doing them. For instance, I've found it real hard to keep up on sporting events in these past couple days because I usually will go to ESPN.com and check out the headlines, results, and all that stuff. I don't have the luxury of time, because my time using the Internet is limited. This is excruciating, especially when you consider I'm a Cubs fan and it's going down to the wire. Another one of my stops on the world wide web is Digg.com. I go here for personal reasons, because I enjoy reading interesting news from around the world and I find most of the stuff on Digg.com either amusing very interesting. Without having Internet all the time, I can't afford to go to Digg.com while doing my homework. I feel disconnected from the world. Probably the highest point of disconnection is the result of not being able to go and "surf" Facebook.com. Writing on people's walls, sending messages, and seeing new pictures posted by others lets you in to their lives, and not having the ability to do that is sad.

Connect
Due to the fact that I can only use the Internet for short periods in time and I use that time for school work, it has been very hard to correspond with people via e-mail. I only get to check e-mail once or at maximum twice a day, and due to my infrequent checks my inbox is typically flooded with e-mails. I don't have enough time to sit back and use my time in the computer lab to e-mail people back. Obviously, I take care of the more immediate concerns, but the regular correspondences that I have with a couple people have to be put on the backburner.



Enjoy
The Internet is also used as a tool that helps people enjoy their time around one another. Like television, it has become a source of entertainment. When people are together they will go to websites like YouTube and share funny videos with one another. It is a great way of getting instant gratification from the web and sharing that joy with friends. Also, I enjoy listening to music. Not saying that my iTunes music library is insufficient, but being able to download or search for new music is important to me and not having the ability to do this is annoying.

Overall, working without the Internet is tough. It means that you have to be a lot more task oriented when you have it at your disposal and that means not being able to procrastinate on it in the many different ways that the Internet has dreamed up thus far. When moving into a new place, make sure that the Internet is working. You'll appreciate it that much more if it doesn't. Be smart. Be aware. Be the solution.

This post was originally written by Tyrone Schiff
University of Michigan · Organizational Studies · 06 Sep 2007